Lader named WPP non-exec chairman

Published on February 28, 2001.

Philip Lader, the outgoing U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, has been named non-executive chairman of the WPP Group. Mr. Lader, 54, replaces Hamish Maxwell, who is retiring.

The role of non-exec chairman at WPP is a part-time job, according to Richard Oldworth, CEO of WPP's public relations company, Buchanan Public Relations. "But it certainly has power in the U.K., because a non-exec chairman is seen as a good check on the executive management. You have a number of non-executive directors of a company in the U.K., and typically a non-exec chairman and three or four non-exec directors who would be seen to be challenging what the executives are doing and keeping them [in line]."

Mr. Lader also recently was appointed senior advisor at global financial services company Morgan Stanley International and will be affiliated with a prominent Southeast U.S. law firm. He holds law degrees from Oxford University and Harvard Law School.

An appointee of former President Bill Clinton, Mr. Lader has been the U.S. envoy in London since 1997. He previously served in the White House cabinet as administrator in the U.S. Small Business Administration. He also was White House deputy chief of staff and assistant to the president and deputy director for management of the Office of Management and Budget.

Mr. Lader entered government service after a working for the late British industrialist Sir James Goldsmith. Mr. Lader was the exec VP of Mr. Goldsmith's extensive U.S. holdings.